Spreader and evener attachment for motor graders



Sept. 13, 1932. c. u. BRUNER ET AL SPREADER AND EVENER ATTACHMENT FORMOTOR GRADERS Filed Aug. 18, 1931 3 Shaets-$heet l afye U-Br u-n erilian glare Sept. 13, 1932.

c. u. BRUNER ET AL 1,876,604

SPREADER AND EVENER ATTACHMENT FDR MOTOR GRADERS Filed Aug. 18, 1931 5sheets-sheet 2 jwuento'os 04 (I EBrune r MSLazzy/irz'q'ye p 1932- c. u.BRUNER ET AL 1,376,604

SPREADER AND EVENER ATTACHMENT FOR MOTOR GRADERS Filed Aug. 18, 1931 3Sheets-Sheet 5 l. UB7 u 71421 VAI-SJIa JrIJ e Patented Sept. 13, 1932srArss CECIL U. BRUNER AND WILLIAM s. LAUGHBIDGE, or MARION, xAnsAsSPREADER Ann 'RvRNER ATTACHMENT FOR MOTOR GRAnnRs Application filedAugust 18, 1931. Serial No. 557,877.

This invention relates to means for spreading and'evening the dirt onaroad which 1S being maintained and particularly to an attachmentadapted to be applied to motor graders to this end. The-ordinary motor'grader is very liable to produce what is known as a washboard effect onthe road, that is, the road bed will not be even but will be wavy withalternate humps and hollows. One of the objects of the present'inventionis to provide an attachment which may be applied to' the ordinary motorgrader which will smooth and level the road, distribute the loose dirtso that it will fill up the hollows and thus eliminate this washboardeffect, and a further object is to provide a device of this characterwhich will distribute the ridge of gravel or dirt made by the regularblade of the grader. I 7

Another object is to provide a device of this character in which theblade is held resiliently from chattering, in which the blade may beshifted to different angles and in which the blade may be readily raisedor lowered out of or into operative position.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

Our invention is illustratedin the accompanying drawings, wherein y'Figure tachment applied to a motor grader, the grader being shown indotted lines;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevation v partly in section of theblade and the means for regulating its height from the road bed; Figure3 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the connection between thedraft bars and the blade;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary elevation of the scraper, one of the draftbeams being in section; 7

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the trans-- verse draft beam;

the draft beam being in section, the telescopic the blade of ourimproved spreading and the grader A.

1 is a perspective view of at- I Figure 6 is an elevation of one draftbar,

evening attachment. This blade may be of any suitable construction.Bolted to the blade are the irons 11 extending Vertically upward. Braces11a are pivoted loosely in the lower ends of these irons and extend upward and rearward. The middle of the blade is formedwith the upwardlyextending lug 12.

The draft beam 13a's shown in Figure 5 is a formed of two superposedmembers 14 and 6'0 15 spaced from each other for nearly their entirelength and having attached thereto the forwardly extending bar 16designed to be riveted or bolted rigidly to the rear end of I v The drawbars whereby the blade is connected to the draft beam 13 consist each oftwo members 18 and 19, the member 18 telescoping into the member 19. Themember 18 is formed with a plurality of holes 20 so that 7073 i themember 19 may be adjusted thereon and the two members being held intheir adjusted position by a pin 21. The forward endof each draft member18 is reduced for inser tion loosely within the opening defined by theparts '14.- and 15 of the draft beam and is provided with an aperturewhich may be j alined'with an aperture 23 in the draft beam and securedthereto by a pin 22 as shown in Figure 6, this loose connection permitsthe draw bars to swing upward or downward as illustrated in dotted linesin Figure 6.

There 'are a plurality of apertures 23 in the draft beam which permitthe draw bars to be laterally shifted to shift the scraper laterally.The bar 16 is braced from the draft beam by means of the braces 24 whichare connected to the rear end of the draft beam in any suitable manner.It will be seen that the draft beam is detachablyconnected to thesebraces and to the member 16 by means of the removable pins or bolts 13a.

In order to raise or lower the blade 10, each member 19 is cut away at25 (see Figure 2) and mounted upon the tubular member 19 is the sleeve26. This sleeve is disposed to surround the tubular element 19 at theopening 25 and is provided with the upwardly extendingears 27 one ofsaid ears having an arcuate rack 28 formed on its edge. Pivot ed betweenthese ears on a pivot pin 2-9 is a cam 30 having a radially extendinghandle 31 provided with a spring actuated bolt 32 urged into engagementwith the rack 28. This tooth is liftable out of engagement with the rackby means of the hand grip 33. Passing through a guide aperture formed inthe sleeve 26 immediately beneath the cam 30 is.

bars by means of a transverse pin or bolt 37 each extending through aslot 38 in the draw bar this pin extending through the forked ends ofthe irons 11. The rear end of each draw bar carries upon it the upwardlyextending pin 40 for a purpose to be later stated. The pins 37 permitthe ready detachment of the blade 10 from the draw bars.

For the purpose of lifting the attachment off the ground into aninoperative position or lowering it into operative position, we providea cable 41 which at its rear end is connected to a ring 42 in turnconnected to two divergent cables 43 which at their ends are operativelyconnected to the ends of the blade 10. The cable 41 passes over a pulley44 mounted on the cab of the grader A and then this cable passes to awinding drum 45 having the usual crank handle and ratchet for holdingcable wound up to any desired extent upon the drum.

While we have illustrated a particular dis position of this-windingdrum, it will be understood that this is purely illustrative of the factthat a winding drum may be used and that the winding drum or otherdevice for this purpose is to be mounted within the cab in convenientposition for the driver to operate it.

For the purpose of holding the blade to its work and preventing theblade from chattering, we mount upon the draft beam 13, the upwardlyextending arm 46 having mounted therein the bell crank lever 47, thislever having a handle 48, the other end of the lever being pivoted to arod 49 which extends downward and rearward and through the aperture inthe member 12 on the blade.

The rod is provided with a collar 50 and a coiled compression. spring 51is disposed between this collar and the upwardly extending arm 12. Thearm 46 is provided with a rack 52 and the lever 48 is provided with abolt 53 and a hand grip for releasing it whereby the lever may be heldin any adjusted position. When the lever is forced fully downward, thespring 51 will be fully compressed and willbear very strongly againstthe blade, thus holding the blade from any chattering. By adjusting thelever, any debracing the rod 54 and interiorly screw threaded. Thisbrace rod is supported at its inner end by providing the section 54 withan eye 58 engaging with an upwardly extending pin 40 mounted preferablyupon the ported in a fork 60, asillustrated in Figure 6, this forkhaving a shank extending through and being rotatable in the section 18.There are two of these forked supports 60, each mounted upon one of thesections 18 and there are two of the upwardly extending pins or hooks 40so that the brace formed of the sections 54 and 55 may be disposedeither in the position shown in Figure 1 or with the cranked end of thebrace disposed through the other fork on the right hand side of themachine in Figure 1 with the eye 58 engaged with a pin 40 on the lefthand end of the blade or mold board 10.

The purpose of making the crank and brace rod reversible is so that itmay be changed from one side to the other depending upon the adjustmentof the blade 10. If it is desired to reverse the blade so as to throwthe dirt either to the right end or to the left end of the blade, theblade is changed in its angular position by changing, of course, therelative lengths of the draw bars. One end ofthe blade may be raised orlowered relative to the other end or the blade may be'raised the sameamount at both ends by means of the levers 31.

This attachment is designed to be disposed back of the grader blade ornear to the rear of the grader depending upon the kind of grader towhich the attchment is applied.

The function of the grader A. is to level and smooth and respread dirt,gravel or sand moved by the blade of the grader. This grader bladefrequently wash-boards the road or leaves small gulleys or ruts in itand it also leaves a ridge at one side where the dirt, sand or gravelpasses off the blade of the grader. Our device covers or fills thesegulleys, smooths out ridges and is afinisher of maintained roads.Inasmuch as the blade of the spreader is provided with two wheels 35, itfollows that the rocking common to the blades of graders, which rockingcauses the washboard effect, is entirely eliminated.

While we have shown caster Wheels 35, it will be understood that it isnot entirely necessary that caster wheels should be used, but

so tubular member 19., The rotatable section 55 is provided with twocollars 59 and supthat the spindle 34 mightbe so mounted in the member26 that it cannot rotate. Preferably, however, we use caster wheelswhich will follow every lateral movement of the tractor. f

It will be seen that the blade can be lifted from the ground by thecable 41 for the reason that theforward end of each of the draw bars isrelatively thin as shown in Figure 6 and extends into the relativelywide slot or space formed between the members 14 and 15. When the blade10 is to belifted, however, the upper end of the tension spring rod 49is to be disconnected from the'lever 47. This is accomplished by looselyand removably connecting it to the member 47 by means of a loose shacklebolt 47 a. The slots 38 and the looseness of the connection of the brace11a to the pin holding this brace in place and to the iron 11 as shownin Figure 4 permit the scraper blade to be shifted from a position atright angles to theline of draft into a slightly angular position ineither direction. This shifting movement, however, need be only slightin order to reverse the blade. When it is desired to use the tractorwithout this attachment, the transverse draw beam 13 can be readilydisconnected from the draft iron 16 and from the braces 24 and underthese circumstances, of course, the cable 41 is to be disconnected fromthe ring 42 or the draft bars formed of the parts 18 and 19 may bedisconnected from the draft beam, the rod 49 disconnected from thelever,

47 and the cable 41 disconnected, in which case the motor grader willmerely carry the iron 16 and the draft beam with the upwardly extendingarm 46.

WVhile we have illustrated certain details of construction andarrangements of parts, we do not wish to be limited thereto as it isobvious that many changes might be made in the details without departingfrom the spirit of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.

We claim 1. An evening attachment for motor graders comprising a draftbeam having means whereby it may be attached to the rear end of themotor grader behind the grading blade thereof, draw bars extendingrearward from the draft beam, a blade supported at the rear end of thedraw bars, wheels mounted upon the draw bars for relative verticalmovement, means for vertically adjusting said draw bars relative to thewheels and including levers mounted on the draw bars and operativelyengaging said wheels, and means attached to the grader whereby the drawbars and the blade may be bodily raised from engagement with the road.

2. An attachment for motor graders comprising a draft beam having meanswhereby it may be connected to the rear end of the grader, sectionaldraw bars extending rearward from the draft beam, means whereby onesection of each draw bar may be adjust ed upon the other section toincrease or decrease the length of the draw bar, a blade operativelyconnected to the rear ends of the dr'aw'bars, wheels mounted upon thedraw bars, manually operable means for raising or lowering the draw barsrelative to said wheels, and a longitudinally extensible brace engagedat one end with one of the draw bars and extending diagonally theretoand operatively engaged at its other end with the other draw bar.

3. vAnattachment for motor graders comrisin adraft beam havin meanswhereb itmay be connected to the rear end of the grader, sectional drawbars extending rearward from the draft beam, the sections'beingadjustable upon each other to increase or decrease the length of eachdraw bar, a

blade operatively conn'ectedto the rearends' of the draw bars, wheelsmounted upon the draw bars, manually operable means for raising orlowering the draw bars relative to said wheels, and a longitudinallyextensible brace engaged at one end with one ofthe draw bars andextending diagonally thereto and operatively engaged at its other endwith the other draw bar, each of said draw bars having a seat for theforward end of said brace and each drawbar having'a member thereon witheither one of which the rear endof the brace may be engaged.

4. A leveling attachment for motor grad ers including a transverselyextending draft beam having means whereby it may be con nected to therear end of the grader, draw bars extending rearward from the draftbeam, a blade to which the rear ends of the draw bars are connected, anarm extending from the draft beam, a bell crank mounted on the arm andhaving a handle, and means whereby it may be locked in a plurality ofpositions, and a rod connected to the bell crank and extending through aportion of the blade, and a spring carried by said rod and operativelybearing against a portion of the blade whereby to apply yieldingpressure to the blade to hold it to its work.

5. An attachment for motor graders including a transversely extendingdraft beam having means whereby it may be connected to the rear end ofthe motor grader, draw bars connected to the draft beam and extendingrearward therefrom, a blade operatively connected to the rear ends ofthe draw bars, and means for holding the blade to its work comprising anarm extending upward from the draft beam, a bell crank mounted in thearm and having a handle, and means for locking the bell crank in anyadjusted position, a rod extending rearward from the bell crank, theblade having an upwardly extending lug through which said rod freelypasses,

rod and bearing against said lug, the tension of said spring beingadjusted by adjusting the bell crank.

6. An evening and leveling attachment for motor graders, including adraft beam having a forwardly extending tongue adapted to be rigidlyconnected to the motor grader, draw bars extending rearward from thedraft beam and connected thereto for swinging movement in a verticalplane, a blade operatively connected to the draw bars, means on the drawbars for vertically adjusting the blade and means for swinging thedraw-bars and blade upward out of contact with the work 5 or loweringthe blade into contact with the work including two convergent cablesattached to the ends of the blade, and a cable connected to theconvergent cables and extending forward to means whereby it may be takenup or released.

7. An attachment for motor graders including a transversely extendingdraft beam having means whereby it may be connected to a motor grader,draw bars extending rearward from the draft beam, a blade operativelyconnected to the rear ends ofthe draw bars, and means for raising orlowering the blade comprising wheels having Vertical spindles extendinginto the draw bars, and

cams mounted upon the draw bars and engaging said spindles to depressthem or permit their upward movement, said cams havhandles whereby theymay be adjusted, and means for holding the handles in any :15. adjustedposition.

In testimony whereof we hereunto afiixour signatures.

CECIL U. BRUNER. WILLIAM S. LAUGHRIDGE.

